


Frozen Pond

by mechanical-scarecrow (WhimsicalWordWeaver)



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Food Issues, Homeless Jack, Hurt Jack, Hurt but no comfort, Poor Jack, Sad, Sad Ending, Sad Jack, homeless, homeless issues, inconsiderate, the Guardians mess up, the Wind is my favorite character honestly, with potential for happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 07:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5618872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimsicalWordWeaver/pseuds/mechanical-scarecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack thought the Guardians knew that he lived at the pond in Burgess. Turns out they didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frozen Pond

The pond was the only home that Jack had ever known.

Which was oddly fitting, in a way, as it was the place in which he died. Still, no matter how far he went, or how long he went away, he would always feel the call back to his pond and he would always return to it. It was hidden enough that he could pretty much always keep it frozen, which he did. Whenever it was unfrozen he felt... anxious.

The thing was, Jack liked his home, he always had. He knew it wasn't a typical home, it didn't have a bed. It didn't have a roof. But, it worked for him.

He never thought that the Guardians wouldn't approve.

Ever since the defeat of Pitch, the Guardians decided to meet once a week, just to socialize and get to know each other better. To really figure out how they would all work as a team.

Jack was still getting used to that part.

It was coming to the end of a meeting and Jack stood and stretched, and had been well over a month since he had last slept and he was really feeling it now. Tonight was a sleeping night for him and he wanted to get it over with quickly.

"Well guys," he said, "I'm going to head on home. It's been fun."

"What do you mean, mate?"

Jack was confused, "I mean I'm going home?"

"What he means, Jack," North explained, glancing at the rest of the Big Four, "Is that you have home?"

Did they forget about it? Jack swallowed the bit of hurt at the thought. They were even in his home. He hid the hurt behind his trademark grin, "Of course I do! Where do you think I go to relax? Even I have to do that sometimes."

Tooth fluttered nervously, "Well... we thought that you just... found somewhere."

Ok, that one hurt a little more. He tried to ignore the implication that if they thought he was homeless all that time, they didn't even care enough to go find him. He swallowed, that was the past. This was now. He laughed a bit, making sure that he looked cheerful as he was always supposed to.

"Well, of course I have a home! Now, it's not as fancy as the Palace or the Warden, but it's mine and I go there whenever I can!"

The Guardians started to smile back, catching onto his excitement. Now Tooth was fluttering with excitement, her hands clasped beneath her chin, "Ooo! Jack, can we go see?"

They must have just forgotten about it. That they were there before. Maybe they didn't realize?

"Sure thing, Tooth." Jack said, "In fact we can all go right now!"

He walked over to the shelf where North kept some of his snow globes and picked one up, tossing it up in the air lightly as he strolled back over to the Guardians. He brought the globe to his mouth and whispered, "Pond."

He threw the snow globe and smiled at the sound of the bells as the portal opened. He took into the air lightly and he flew through the portal, laughter following him. He burst through the other side, bringing forth a little bit of snow to cover his pond and the trees. He landed on the frozen water making sure it was solid all the way through.

He heard the Guardians come through too and he turned toward them, arms stretched out wide, "Here it is! What do you think?"

The Guardians seemed confused as they glanced around. Bunny hopped forward slowly, tapping his feet against the ground, "Where's is it, mate?"

Did they not... understand? The excitement that had grown in the workshop at properly showing the Big Four his home started to dwindle. He shook his head slightly, all they needed was to understand. Then the fun would start!

He took to the air again and the wind pushed at the other Guardians gently toward the pond, "No, no guys! This is my home! The pond! Right here, with the tree and the snow. Well, except in the summer, then I have to give up the snow, but I keep the pond frozen as long as no one is around, but this is it! This is where I live!"

He glanced back toward them and frowned. Those weren't fun expressions.

"Jack?" North said, "This cannot be home. This is trick, no?"

"This is not a trick!" Jack said, "This is where I live! See?" He went to the edge of the pond and pointed to the pile of sticks and leaves that he had collected right next to a big snow bank, "This is where I sleep! And sometimes the branches make super comfy beds."

As he was wont to do, he started getting caught up in the fun of giving a tour. he zoomed through the air to the other side of the pond where there was a tree with a huge knot in the side, "And this is where I keep all the stuff I collect! It even has my first cloak!" He pulled out the old cloak with glee and unrolled it gently looking at all of his knick knacks.

He laughed as he skated across the pond to another part of the edge, where he had dug a large hole and had even learned how to cut wood to make a lid, "And this is where I keep food that I find." He reached in and pulled out an apple, it was a little worse for wear, but not the worst thing that he had ever eaten.

He stood back up and turned back to the guardians, this time expecting a better reaction, "So now what do you think?"

Tooth looked almost horrified, her hands covering her mouth with shock, "Oh, Jack. We didn't... we didn't realize that this was your home."

The grin finally faded from Jack's face as he looked at them with confusion, "What's wrong with it?"

Sandy, sensing the impending doom of what would happen, began to wave his arms around hoping to catch their attention, but as per usual, the rest of the Guardians did not seem to pay attention.

"This ain't a house mate."

Disbelief flooded through him, followed instantly by rage. He pointed his staff at them, "This is all I had! For 300 years, this is the only place... the only place! That I could come home too. So why, why do you think you can say anything about it? If you have a problem with my home then why didn't you do anything about it? You haven't cared about it before, so why now?"

He was mad, no he was furious. How dare they say something about his home like this. This place was his home. They had no right! There was nothing wrong with his pond. Sure there were no walls and no roof and no actual furniture, but he didn't need them before, he didn't need them now.

The Big Four didn't respond, even Sandy wasn't trying to get everyone's attention anymore, and for Jack... that was the worst reaction any of them could do. He turned back around away from them.

"Alright, fine. Just go."

"Jack... mate..."

"Go!" The wind whipped pushing the other Guardians back slightly. The fight drained out of him, "I'll see you guys at our next meeting."

He heard the sound of the bells as they activated a snow globe, and when he turned around again, they were gone. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, ignoring the frozen drops of water that were absolutely not tears. He threw the apple in his hand into the trees, and replaced all of his collection into the tree. He made his way to his snow bank and curled up into it, bringing another layer of snow to cover over him.

"My home is fine," Jack whispered to himself, "I love it here."

Around him, the wind whistled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!   
> Follow me on tumblr if you want (I would appreciate it)   
> -URL: we-are-connected-through-stars
> 
> There is potential for a fix-it fic, comment if you want one and it will be so.


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